The interview wasn't a bomb by any means, but Willis still saw fit to apologise for being a "boring" guest. He was wildly overshadowed, though, by Mark Wahlberg's apparently drunk appearance on The Graham Norton Show, during which he sat on Norton's lap, repeatedly interrupted fellow guest Michael Fassbender and generally made things a bit awkward.

Inspired by these two unfortunate events, Digital Spy looks back on ten of the very worst examples of movie stars appearing on chatshows.

Tom Cruise on Oprah's sofa (2005)A double whammy from Tom Cruise, in what has to go down as either one of the best or very worst publicity trails in history. Cruise doing the rounds for War of the Worlds certainly got people talking – unfortunately, nobody was talking about the film. First up was his now-infamous appearance on Oprah, during which he declared his love for new girlfriend Katie Holmes while intermittently leaping on to Oprah's sofa and crouching down into an excited foetal position on the floor. It could charitably be described as "unusual behaviour".

Tom Cruise on psychiatry (2005)But a month later, Cruise out-crazied himself with a quieter, creepier and even less coherent public appearance on The Today Show. In what swiftly turned into a disjointed, paranoid ramble-fest, Cruise slammed psychiatry as a "psuedo-science", and criticised Brooke Shields for her use of antidepressants. All credit to host Matt Lauer, who handled Cruise's increasingly hostile meltdown with as much grace and eloquence as any human being could have. This is proper watch-through-your-fingers stuff, as Cruise announces that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance moments before calling Lauer "glib".

Helen Mirren gets quizzed about her "equipment" on Parkinson (1975)Speaking of watching through your fingers...Parky's been accused of sexism more than once over his long career, and this infamous interview is generally put forward as Exhibit A. Introducing a young Helen Mirren, he quotes a charming theatre critic who described her as "projecting sluttish eroticism", a sentiment with which he seems to agree. The crowning moment comes when he asks whether Mirren's "equipment" hinders her in the pursuit of being an "in quotes, serious actress", and at least has the decency to stumble over his words. Mirren remained staggeringly classy throughout, but has since described Parkinson as "an extremely creepy interviewer".

Drew Barrymore flashes Letterman (1995)As a general rule of thumb, we're all for expressing yourself when you're young and carefree. It's great. It's just unfortunate that 20-year-old Barrymore felt the specific need to express herself through the medium of her breasts. After a slightly awkward opening gambit in which Barrymore appeared vaguely manic and spent most of the time talking about crying, the conversation turned to nude dance clubs. Letterman confessed his ignorance about what might go on at such a club, and Barrymore helpfully gave him a demonstration. Being keen to shake off your child star image is understandable, but Barrymore's still so childlike here that the whole thing becomes impossibly creepy.

Sean Connery explains why it's okay to hit women (1987)This one's in a league of its own. During an interview with an increasingly incredulous Barbara Walters, Connery was asked to clarify previous comments in which he'd suggested that slapping women is fine provided you use an open hand, rather than a clenched fist. "I haven't changed my opinion," Connery says, explaining that sometimes those pesky women are just so provocative and desperate to have the last word that violence is the only response left to a reasonable man. "If you have tried everything else... then I think it's absolutely right." If you listen hard during this illuminating interview, you can almost hear the irreverent fun draining from Connery's much-loved James Bond reign.

Meg Ryan doesn't enjoy the spotlight on Parkinson (2003)This one wasn't as bad as you may have heard, at least for Ryan. It was just a prickly, mismatched exchange between an actress accustomed to fluffy, friendly interviews and a host inexplicably channeling Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight. Ryan seemed uncomfortable but unfailingly polite, while he was just plain rude and weirdly determined to badger and provoke her as if she were a disgraced politician rather than an actress promoting a sub-par erotic thriller. She was stiff and unresponsive, but he was a straight-up bully in this instance. Bearing in mind the Mirren interview, Parky's not coming out of this list smelling like roses.

Danny DeVito shows up the morning after on The View (2006)As it turns out, a night on the town with George Clooney really is just as much fun as you imagine. So much so that Danny DeVito appeared to still be drunk when he showed up for this TV interview the day after. Sure, he's noticeably unstable and slurring his speech, but DeVito's so inherently charming and seems like such a friendly drunk that this doesn't end up being half as painful as it could have been. As it is, he mostly just makes fun of George Bush and talks about having sex with his wife in the White House.

Crispin Glover appears in-character on Letterman (1987)Crispin Glover's not known for his wildly conventional behaviour at the best of times, but in this instance he was appearing in-character from a film which nobody could possibly have identified, since it hadn't yet been released. Call it viral marketing for the pre-YouTube age. Donning platform shoes and a wig to play reclusive dweeb Rubin (from a film that finally crawled onto screens four years later), Glover rambled about the evils of the press before challenging David Letterman to an arm wrestling match. Letterman finally became rattled enough to walk off-stage without concluding the interview, around the time when Glover nearly kicked him in the head.

Oliver Reed exists on Late Night (1987)If Tom Cruise solidified himself as the prince of awkward talkshow moments in 2005, Oliver Reed remains the reigning monarch. There are too many examples of his legendarily outrageous appearances to list here, and many fall more into the 'sad' than 'entertaining' category as Reed descended increasingly into alcoholism, but this 1987 appearance is pure, surreal gold. There's really very little else that can be said about it. Watch, listen, and marvel.

Joaquin Phoenix announces his career change on Letterman (2009)David Letterman's the go-to guy for elaborate chatshow pranks, it would seem. Phoenix's dishevelled appearance here, as he mumbles his way around non-responses to Letterman's questions and announces his plans to retire from acting in order to pursue a career in hip-hop, was all (in theory) an act. Unbeknownst to everybody (including Letterman) at the time, Phoenix was taking part in a hoax cooked up by Casey Affleck for his 2010 documentary I'm Still Here, and his aim was to convince people that he'd gone off the rails. Ironically, he still came off as saner than most of the other stars on this list. We're still waiting for the day when Tom Cruise is revealed to be an elaborate hoax.